At the onset of this course I identified two major goals: learn how to build and design in Moodle and expand my knowledge of assessment options. These goals were tied to my role as an instructional designer and technology leader in my college. I had hoped to gain knowledge that I could disseminate to my colleagues and I feel I have achieved this. I now feel comfortable enough using Moodle that, while I do not know how to do everything, I am confident in my trouble shooting ability. This is integral, not only because I may have to help faculty use it, but it is important to model success with the tool without having to know everything about it. As for assessments, the unit on digital stories truly helped me see the plethora of options available. Furthermore, the weekly case studies put real issues into a context that facilitated critical thinking and problem solving to find a solution. I realized I know more about assessment options than I thought and the articles and content aided in building on my foundation.
While I eagerly used most of the resources provided in the course, I did not find the eLearning toolkit that valuable. I discovered I did not usually need it to clarify the activities we were doing on a weekly basis. I did, however, use it for another class in which I was building a wiki and I was happy to know it was there if I needed a reference. I believe this had to do more with my technological skills than the resource itself. The eLearning toolkit is a great starting place when a user is brand new to an elearning tool. Since I have experience with many elearning tools I was happier to play with them by myself to learn and discover. I am also a visual learner, so I often found myself searching Youtube for an instructional video, which is more helpful for me than reading. Only when I had to do something specific for an assignment did I look there to see if I could find the answer.
Over the past four months I have appreciated the opportunity to explore educational technologies, specifically Moodle. Even in the field of instructional design I do not always have time to ‘play’ with all the possibilities out there. More than anything, it was useful to have an assignment or group discussion forcing me into trying new things. This being said, there were times that I did not always feel challenged by the material. I believe this is due to both my current role as an instructional designer and my enthusiasm for educational technologies. I did, however, appreciate the weekly readings, which provided a theoretical framework for the technologies we explored. I also truly liked the weekly case studies. It helped me see issues from instructor’s eyes, rather than an instructional designer’s eyes. This has guided how I approach staff when they are looking to integrate technology into their classes.
Going forward in my career I will take a few things from this class. First of all, my college is contemplating a move to Moodle. I plan to synthesise what I have learned, both in the implementation of the learning management system and ease of use as an instructor, to inform the task force that will be making the decision. Secondly, I plan to disseminate what I have learned in this class to my colleagues. I have already done this informally at times. For example, I emailed a link to the “50 Ways to Tell a Story” to the English teachers I use to work with because I knew they were looking for new ways to get students telling stories using technology. I plan to be more formal in the future by writing a monthly blog about instructional design and educational technologies. I already have the okay from my supervisor and I am waiting for the blog to be set up on our server. Finally, I will use the skills learned in this course to inform my day-to-day practice as an instructional designer.